1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the preparation of a quantity of tobacco for primary processing, and in particular to a system, apparatus, and a method for preparing a quantity of tobacco for primary processing.
Primary processing refers to the overall process leading to product manufacture from tobacco which has been stored for aging. One feature of primary processing is conditioning of the tobacco, i.e., the moisture replenishment of the tobacco.
2. Prior Art
Various ways of conditioning tobacco are disclosed in the above-noted co-pending application. These range from a vacuum chamber to single and multiple probes. In each instance, the entire tobacco mass as it is received from storage is conditioned.
An alternate method is also discussed in the noted co-pending application according to which the tobacco mass is first broken into smaller pieces and then fed into a revolving steam drum. Variations of this method are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,767,717 and 3,494,367.
One of the drawbacks of conditioning the entire tobacco mass in a chamber is cost. One of the drawbacks encountered with probes is also cost as well as maintenance because the probes are susceptible to breakage. A drawback of those methods which employ breaking of the tobacco mass into smaller pieces is waste because of the particulate scrap or fines produced.
The noted copending application discloses an advance over the noted state-of-the-art in that it teaches flexibly securing the probe to a mounting plate so that the probe can flex within a given cone angle. Here too the entire tobacco mass is subjected to conditioning by the probes.
It would be desirable to enhance the design advance represented by the invention disclosed in the noted copending application while continuing to avoid the problem which would result from breaking the tobacco mass into smaller pieces, by altering the size of the tobacco mass being conditioned.
Another feature in the primary rocessing of tobacco, when more than one type of tobacco is being processed, is mixing of the different types of tobacco. Typically, this is done at the fiber level and not at the larger mass level. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,599.
It would also be desirable to improve the mixing aspect of primary processing at the larger mass level where less precision and control are acceptable.